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An Interview With…YOU!

You are the most talented, most interesting, and most extraordinary person in the universe. And you are capable of amazing things. Because you are the Special. And so am I. And so is everyone.

We’ve been promising you that our final interview would be with a special guest, and we’re proud to announce who that guest is! Today we want to interview you–the authors, creators, and other fabulous people who have been following along all month. These questions are designed to be humorous, thought provoking, and provide you with a platform to share your thoughts and ideas with fellow readers and creators. Feel free to answer as many or few as you choose in the comments below.

1. What inspires you to create? What sort of sights, sounds, ideas, innovations or other stimulus gets you out of bed in the morning and make you want to inspire someone likewise?

2. What websites or resources around the internet do you enjoy and would recommend to others? What makes these places special and unique to you?

3. What is the most important piece of advice you’ve ever been given? What piece of advice would you like to leave for all future artists and creators to remember?

4. What makes you laugh?

5. What is the most unique thing you’ve ever experienced? What books, movies, or blogs do you consider unique and imaginative? What unusual piece of art or creation has made you sit up and pay attention?

6. Tell us a little bit about what you’re working on right now.

Giveaway Details

That’s right! This is an interview, so we’re having a giveaway! But this time–everyone wins! Everyone who comments below will recieve a free copy of the ebook version of the event I ran last year “Speculative Fiction Through Time and Space.” Simply email vaguelycircular@gmail.com with your preferred file format (pdf, html, .doc, mobi, epub) and I’ll send you your copy! If you like it, please consider reviewing on Amazon or recommending to a friend!

Even better, every comment on this post will be eligible for one additional entry into our rafflecoptor! Just click on the “blog entry” option and put in a link to your comment! Winners for the two grand prizes will be drawn on August 1st, which is also when comments for this interview close! I’ll be publishing my favorite answers on our Facebook page, and possibly in future blog posts here on VC.

Thanks for participating, and I look forward to learning more about you!

Comments

An Interview With…YOU! — 11 Comments

1. What inspires me to create?
Coffee. A crisp fall morning. An evening horse ride with the wind in my hair and the thunder of hooves in my ears. Waking up to sunshine and birds singing. In short, there are stories inside of me that burn to be told, and it doesn’t require much more than a spark to set me off! 🙂

3. What is the most important piece of advice I’ve ever been given/would like to give to others?
Write in spite of fear. Fear is one of the most crippling enemies a writer can face. Fear that you’re not capable enough, can’t write well enough, can’t do justice to the story burning inside. Fear that others will hate your work and won’t understand it. Fear that you will come across sounding dumb. But if you allow fear to control you, you won’t ever be able to accomplish what you desire and your writing will come across as plastic, cookie cutter, and safe. Instead, write in spite of your fear. Dash your fear to the ground with every word from your pen and crush it beneath your feet. You may not be able to write without fear, but you can sure write in spite of it.

6. What am I working on right now?
Working on finishing up edits for my fantasy novel, Orphan’s Song, that’s releasing from Enclave Publishing this fall! It’s the story of a world woven by melody and shattered by discord, where a young girl discovers that her Song contains a far greater power than she ever could have imagined. A power that a ruthless soldier and his evil master seek to possess. A power that her guardian wants silenced.

1) My daily inspiration come from my desire to leave a mark on the world. Not so that others will one day remember my name or even care who I was or when I lived; but because I want the world to be a better place when I am gone to those I leave behind. Some inspirations that get me out of bed in the morning: /Rainstorms./ There is nothing like the combination of high-energy and sky-water to refresh the life and spark the imagination in everything around you! /Fire./ Whether camping or just relaxing on the back porch, fire resets all that is wrong from the day. It is focused and intense, pure refinement with a singular purpose, and reminds us that at the end of it all, it’s ashes to ashes and dust to dust. /Young Life./ My two small boys are a constant inspiration to my everyday life. They are the reason I push myself everyday to be a better, more genuine human being than I was the day before.

2) I could list hundreds of great internet resources I personally enjoy, but the top two I ALWAYS recommend to others are http://www.Instructables.com and http://www.Nanowrimo.org. They are a constant source of incredibile ideas and inspirations from people just like you and I, and will genuinely restore your faith in humanity! Great communities, great people, sharing great ideas… what more could one ask for?

3) The most important piece of advice I was ever given, and the same that I would like to leave behind me to future creators: “Everyday, strive to be the most genuine HUMAN BEING you can possibly be.” You will make mistakes. You will fail. You will let people down, you will come short of the mark many times in this life. But that’s a part of being human. We learn, we grow, we get back up and we try again. To have never risked is to have never lived! We experience so much everyday, we could never hope to understand it all. But learn who you truly are by being the very best “YOU” you know how to be. Love harder, learn more, be curious, ask questions, admit when you’re wrong or don’t know something, never lie, and always strive to keep growing! This is what it means to me to be a genuine human being.

4) I will admit, I am a bit satirical in my view of life. So much of what we strive for and try to plan ahead can be totally derailed in a moments notice. Good-humored fun that pokes us all in the ribs a bit truly makes me laugh. The painful truth served on a silver platter or delivered with a velvet glove can bring a smile to anyone’s face, if we’re willing to let go of our ego.

5) I am a poetic soul deep down, and nothing in this life has ever moved me so much as a well written Haiku. The amount of visualization, irony, truth, power, and about a hundred other concepts that can be contained in a few short syllables set to rhyme will never cease to amaze and inspire me!

6) Currently, a friend and I are attempting to set up a local shop for printing custom t-shirts. It’s not a new idea, but we want our shop to allow everyone, anyone, to be able to have an idea, put it on a shirt, and share it with the world without having to worry about fees at every corner of the process. Long story short, it’s just not that hard to print a shirt. So why should it cost so much? We don’t think it should. No minimums, no set-up fees, no multi-color fees, no specialty order fees, nada! Just straight up, fun, inexpensive t-shirt printing!

1. What inspires you to create? What sort of sights, sounds, ideas, innovations or other stimulus gets you out of bed in the morning and make you want to inspire someone likewise?

Music is a big one! I’ll be listening to a song and bang! An idea hits me like a speeding train! (or something less violent XD)
My friends also inspire me. I have one non-writer friend who sometimes will just ask me about my story and we end up brainstorming. On a 14 hour bus ride, we plotting an entire new book for me to write in the future! I would be lying if I said they didn’t help out my creativity.
Somehow rain and thunderstorms help as well. There’s something about them that makes me just want to write forever.

2. What websites or resources around the internet do you enjoy and would recommend to others? What makes these places special and unique to you?

Pinterest is a no brainer. I love the fact that I can personalize my boards and share all these really awesome photos I find with other writers that follow me and even my non-writer friends that follow me. They probably won’t re-pin what I post but I feel like they get to look in on my writing process and see me for who I am: the girl who gets lost in her own storyworlds behind a keyboard in her bedroom.
Writer’s Write is a blog I follow and that’s been a huge help as well as Go Teen Writers. Both are run by published authors and they share their insight on writing. Even so, they’re both totally different. I like looking at both perspectives and coming to my own conclusion based on professional advice from two different blogs.

3. What is the most important piece of advice you’ve ever been given? What piece of advice would you like to leave for all future artists and creators to remember?

Oh man, this is a tough one! It’s a toss up between “Don’t neglect the interior monologue” and “Be spontaneous.”
My friend gave me the first one and it’s changed how I write. When you dive into your character’s personal, thoughts, fears and dreams, you get to know them on a new level. I actually discovered my FMC’s one true wish and the corresponding fear this way.
As for the second one, it came while doing some research on what famous author’s had to say about writing. A ton of them said this. Their reasoning? Spontaneity is a reflection of your author voice. The first draft will be the most spontaneous and that’s okay! That’s good! It’s fresh and new and people like reading fresh and new. It’s your voice—your spontaneous voice and you should be proud of it and embrace it. So when you edit, be mindful of your spontaneous sound and don’t cut things out that reflect this.

4. What makes you laugh?

If you’ve never seen the “Sail Cat” on youtube, you must, must, must look it up! XD Also, the YouTubers: Rhett and Link bring a smile to my face everyday with their internet show Good Mythical Morning. One of my favourite videos from them is Famous Last Words.
If you’re trying to make me laugh, just say something ridiculous or punny that relates to what we’re talking about. Tell a hilarious story with a fantastic punchline and I’ll be on the floor!

5. What is the most unique thing you’ve ever experienced? What books, movies, or blogs do you consider unique and imaginative? What unusual piece of art or creation has made you sit up and pay attention?

Most unique…gosh…
Last year I was asked, as returning alumni, to present an award at a film festival. There was one category called 48 Hour Challenge. This is when the filmmakers are given a line and a prop and they must create a film with those elements in 48 hours. The prop was a suitcase an the line was, “You can’t handle the truth.” While most of the filmmakers chose typical story-lines, the winners did something that too this day, I’m amazed by. I can’t describe it without knocking down how cool I’m making it sound but trust me, it was very, very unique. Somehow, in five minutes, I was engaged with the characters and couldn’t peel myself away from the plot.
As far as books go, I thought that The Maze Runner by James Dashner was a fantastically new idea and I still think so. Same with The Giver by Lois Lowery.

6. Tell us a little bit about what you’re working on right now.

The age old question XD

I’m working on a science-fiction novel called Crec. It’s set in the future in a world were Earth is not the only planet humans live on. There’s is also another: Crec. Every twenty years, Earth sends a set percentage of their population to Crec in order to keep the population balanced on Earth.
My main character is a girl named Masara Gold. She’s quite suspicious of other people and events and relies heavily on her instincts. At random, she’s chosen to go to Crec and upon arriving she can’t help but notice that the perfect city and incredible planet has it’s dark corners.
By fluke, she gets mixed up in the shadowy past of the planet and with it, a brewing revolution.

It’s the first book in a planned trilogy. I’m currently writing the first draft and I’m on target to finish it before Christmas this year! Below is a link to one of my blog’s where you can find a little more information on the project 🙂

1. What inspires you to create? What sort of sights, sounds, ideas, innovations or other stimulus gets you out of bed in the morning and make you want to inspire someone likewise?
–> Passion and injustice have been my most recent and most compelling motivation to create. I love learning about people’s passion for various causes, subjects, and activities. And injustice makes my blood boil. What better way to explore and expose both than through the medium of story?

2. What websites or resources around the internet do you enjoy and would recommend to others? What makes these places special and unique to you?
–> I love Pinterest just because it’s my online place to go and chill. The One Year Adventure Novel forum has long been my go to place to interact with other creative minded young people. Other than that, I enjoy reading adoption blogs and doing research online. And, of course, my two blogs feel like my online home.

3. What is the most important piece of advice you’ve ever been given? What piece of advice would you like to leave for all future artists and creators to remember?
–> Whatever you do, do it as under the Lord. AND To do everything with excellence.

5. What is the most unique thing you’ve ever experienced? What books, movies, or blogs do you consider unique and imaginative? What unusual piece of art or creation has made you sit up and pay attention?
–> Hmm. Most unique thing? That would take some thinking. But the most unique thing I experienced this past week was having Mexican friends over (two out of three didn’t speak English) and singing hymns together. We’d find a song with the same tune and we’d sing it in English while they sang it in Spanish!

6. Tell us a little bit about what you’re working on right now.
–> Right now I’m working on publishing my set-in-the-future novel about a young woman in the persecuted church. It’s so excited to see things starting to come together. I’ll be launching a Kickstarter campaign on August 4th and hope to release the book on November 3rd. You can read more about my projects at this link (http://leahegood.com/category/story-friends/).

1. I’m inspired by needs. My usual realm of writing is nonfiction, specifically aimed at helping writers sell their work. When I see writers needing help with something, I love to research the topic and make something to solve a problem or teach something.

3. Both are the same. A few years ago, someone I look up to told me that to create well, I had to “dare to suck.” That is, I can’t ever get better if I won’t create for fear of making something that’s no good. Creation is the only way forward.

6. I’m finalizing a book of hymns, and then I’m hoping to begin work on a marketing book for indie authors in the next couple of months.

1. What inspires you to create? What gets you out of bed in the morning?
Well, those two have entirely different answers. The second tends to involve not having to be up until midnight working on class work. Creativity and mornings just don’t go together for me.

I’m not entirely sure what inspires me, either. Different stories come from different sources and there aren’t many correlations between them all. Three of my projects were inspired by issues though. “Dream of a Shrouded Quest” grew from a burning desire to tell a story that discusses depression and how people deal with it in a symbolic, fantasy story. My superhero character Liberator was created to spread awareness of human trafficking, and I’m going to use any proceeds from that once it’s finished to support anti-trafficking organizations. Project Nebula is more generic, but it’s about the importance of hope, which is in rather short supply now a days. So, I suppose then, that what inspires me is issues that I care about.

2. What websites or resources around the website do you recommend?
I frequent the forums at http://www.holyorlds.org/fantasy and would recommend them to any Christian writers of speculative fiction. I have learned so much there, and made some really good friends as well.

Another resource is Pinterest, again. It makes it so easy both to collect research and inspiration for stories, but also to establish some sort of Internet presence for marketing.

3. What is the most helpful advice you have been given? What advice would you give?

The most helpful advice I’ve been given was simply to go and write and read. More can be learned from writing and reading the greats than any in any amount of seminars. From Bradbury and Rothfuss, I learned the power of imagery in prose. From Sanderson, I’ve been learning to create three dimensional characters that I stick with for over two thousand pages (And that’s just the first two books in a projected ten or so book series) and create their own conflict. Tolkien taught me the importance of Worldbuilding,

As for my advice? Be vulnerable. Be sensitive. Don’t build armor to deaden the pain that comes from living. Feel it. Feel it all, letting it slosh and churn within, and then pour it out on pro the page. The writing will be alive then, because you just poured your soul into the words. Do the same with joy and love.

4. What makes you laugh?
Puns, satire, and sarcasm. Preferably all three combined.

5. What is the most unique thing you’ve ever experienced?
The two modern series that really made me sit up in surprise because I had never read them were the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Roghfuss and the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. The setting, characters, and plot were all completely new and unlike anything I had read before. I still remember their leads, Kvothe and Kaladin, as well as I remember Aragorn and Frodo.

6. What are you working on?
I’m in the development phase for a science fantasy epic that follows the rise, fall, and redemption of a paladin in a war as old as the universe that rages across the stars. My other project is a collection of short stories following the superhero Liberator in her search for her friends and who she used to be after being abducted by traffickers and turned into the ultimate soldier.

1. Ah, nothing. I’m a sort of a ‘chase inspiration with a stick’ kind of person. That said, my answer actually is ‘everything’. Put in enough work and skill, and I can be inspired by the annoying clicks that sneak into every recording I do on the mp3 player, or the dust on the ceiling of our ’98 van. All’s fair in love and war.

2. Pinterest is awesome. It’s one of the few sites ever that have honestly contributed to my stories. I like the fact that instead of the more active work of dragging ideas out of the air, I can take a break by the more passive work of scanning loads of stuff and collating the things that fit what I need.

Also, there’s K M Weiland’s site. She has a practical respect for older authors and books that I find fairly rare among people giving writing advice.

3. I actually don’t know…. :/ I take more learning from authors and books themselves rather than what people say about writing. I guess the most important advice, though, is that if you actually want to write good things, never try and do it ‘the easy way’, because work is what makes writing – or anything else – honestly good.

5. Jenny Freitag is a wonderful writer – I haven’t read an entire book of hers, but she posts scraps and shorts on her blog. Her book Plenilune is due out October 20th and I’m looking forward to it. A lot. Her writing is intense and intelligent, full with beautiful words and metaphors.

An older author that is highly unique is Charles Williams. I’ve read his ‘Greater Trumps’, and it was… weird. Very weird. I loved it. I’ll never forget it.

C S Lewis wrote books other than the Narnia ones, and (although not to say the Narnia stories aren’t imaginative :P) some of them are veeeery strange. And just as awesome as they are strange. I’m mainly referring to the Space Trilogy as those are the ones I’ve actually read.

And if you want a story that turns an earth-setting into a place that sent me shivering with huge strangenesses, then read ‘The Man Who Was Thursday’ by G K Chesterton. And if you want out-of-the-ordinary mystery shorts, then read his ‘Father Brown’s.

The list could go on, but I’ll quit here. 😛

6. I’m working on ‘The Catcher of Ny-redandblue’, a politically-primed book about two people falling-out-of-love (sort of). Oh, and it’s fantasy. My biggest problem with it so far has been making it coherent, because the setting and arena are a bit information-intense.

1.
I love art and good art makes me want to make better art. anything that registers with me on the inspirational scale cause me to want to outdo it and give myself the same sensation again.

2.
mythicscribes.com Is a great resource of articles for writers. It has been a very thought provoking site.
holyworlds.org is a great community of christian writers. It is good because you can connect with like minding people who struggle with the same issues.

3.
“Write what you like. Not what other people like.”

4.
Things that are awesome but in a epic sarcastic humorous way.

5.
What is the most unique thing you’ve ever experienced? What books, movies, or blogs do you consider unique and imaginative? What unusual piece of art or creation has made you sit up and pay attention?
The feeling of reading The lord of the rings for the first time. Nothing was quite like it and its been my favorite novel ever since. I can’t define what it was that I loved so much about it.

6
I have many shorts sitting around wishing they were being finished while I polish a little short film script and do daily world building with my 3 brothers as we all prepare to write fantasy novel’s.

To me, the inspiration to create really depends on the mood I’m in at the current time. There have been instances where I get the inspiration out of nowhere, and on other occasions, a good movie jogs my itchy hands. Personally, I daydream all day, every day, and somewhere in my pretend adventures lies most of my ideas, characters and plots.

One inspiration for me is music. If I have a tune playing in my earbuds that I can listen to, then I feel that I can work and concentrate better. Granted, Dubstep isn’t something that most people would think calming, but it is to me.

Honestly, I rarely write with the goal of inspiring someone. If anything, the fanfiction for Anime that I pen is mostly for my own personal enjoyment. Those periods where I write are stimulated significantly by other anime, Youtube, and random things I find on the web. Recently, I have found that when I am terribly bored, I can sit down and write at late hours and I’ll be just fine.

Like now.

2.===

A particular website I frequent from time to time is TvTropes.org. Tropes, according to their home page, “… are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members’ minds and expectations”

Within TvTropes lies an immense number of literary and media devices that are seen everywhere where there is a plot. Notables include: backstabbing, character development, assorted weaponry tropes, argument tropes, the kitchen sink, the importance of a kitchen sink in literary devices, a list of over 300 bullet-points on how to become an effective Evil Overlord, and beyond.

If one is looking to waste terrifying amounts of time, then Tvtropes is the place to go. It’s not for children, as it does contain some very real and mature tropes that are also seen in the media. The website itself even has a page on how Tvtropes will ruin your life. Trust me.

On a serious note, because there are so many tropes on the website, there are a plethora of very real, and practical literary devices that are explained in detail with examples from all forms of media. Really, the only way that one can experience Tvtropes is to spend about an hour tab surfing the site. A typical browsing session will most likely have you opening multiple tabs as each trope embeds links to other related tropes related to that one.

It’s basically a giant interconnected spider web of literary devices that are cataloged and indexed for your convenience. That alone should be more than enticing.

3.===

I am loved. I believe in a God that created and still is creating, and the one thing that He told the world outright, is that we are his people and we are loved. Period. Everyone, from the least to the greatest, to the ends of the universe.

My advice to you: Smile more. Regardless of if you’re not smiling or if you do a ton. Smile more, even if you don’t mean it.

Too often people forget this simple thing through all the lemons that life throws at them. Not only does smiling lift your spirits, it uses less muscles than frowning, it lifts your mood, even if you don’t feel like it does, and it’s backed by numerous clinical studies that find convincing evidence of other health and mood benefits.

Next, Smile and mean it. You cannot afford to feel bad about yourself in this day and age. Life marches forward unto dawn, and it’s not stopping anytime soon. It is far better to march with it and push through than to stop and feel sorry for yourself.

Last piece of advice: Never. March. Alone. Solitude and isolation are the paths that lead to darker places. Never be alone, and never believe that you are alone. If you don’t think that any one person in over seven billion isn’t going through what you are, then you are mistaken. Friends, treasure them and hold them close. Family, hold them closer. If you have a friend that you cherish beyond your heart, then do not push them away. Do not lose this precious person that has come into your life whether it be fate or the hand of God.

You are never alone. Smile and remember that. Always.

4. ===

Nowadays, almost anything. I find humor in the strangest of places and the most idiotic of things. I giggle at stuff I’m really not supposed to feel mirth about, and I feel this way probably because this summer hasn’t been the best. I need a little humor.

What makes me truly laugh, however is the interactions between me and my friends in companionship. We joke, we make fun, we talk, we listen to each other, and when we ask for help or offer it, we mean it. With them is when I honestly laugh the most and mean it in my heart of hearts.

5. ===

The most unique thing probably has to be how I came into this world. I’ll not divulge the whole story, but the circumstances are something that is remarkable beyond all known standards.

Concerning books, the ones that inspire me or attract me the most now is the book “Man To Man” by Dr. Dennis E. Hensley. Having the privilege of meeting him in real life, and taking a class with him, his book is essentially a large collection of devotionals and study questions pertaining to our relationship to God, Man to Man. Other notable works include “The Art of War”, by Sun Tzu, and “Leaves of Grass”, by Walt Whitman.

Frankly, I’m not much of an artistic person, however I did practice piano recently. Events came, went, and I’m taking a hiatus, but during a summer college camp, I witnessed a fellow student play the exact song that I stopped practicing only months beforehand. That struck me as ironic.

Additionally, my family has forever held a deep interest in seeing nature. We’ve had the privilege of touring the USA several times and visit National Parks of every size, quite literally from the Sequoias in California, to Arcadia in Maine. Each trip brings more unknown beauty out of the landscape, and there have been so many that the images blur. One, I do remember is at Canyonlands National Park, standing on the Island in the Sky mesa, overlooking a truly gorgeous sight of gorges, valleys, and hills. That I will remember.

6.===

Not much. My extent of writing includes poetry, devotionals, and anime fanfiction. I have two snippets of stories and one longer story on Fanfiction.com under the author name Lord Herobrine, but other than that, there isn’t much else that I work on. The longer story is a crossover fan fiction piece that ties the popular Japanese anime, Naruto, with the popular indie game, Minecraft. Admittedly, it is confusing if you have no idea what either of the two are. It’s for my own personal pleasure to write, and nothing much beyond that.

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General Content Warning

The internet is not a safe place for any children under the age of 13. If you are under the age of 13, you should probably get off the computer and go read a good book (I recommend the Three Musketeers); unless you are here with your parents' express permission, in which case they are responsible for any new knowledge you come into possession of. If you are over 13 and do not watch movies or read books that would get a PG-13 rating then you will probably run into something offensive, and may not be entirely cut out for a speculative fiction author.

Standard Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in guest posts are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views held by Vaguely Circular and its creators. Please also bear in mind that there is no single correct way to create art, and there is no single definition of "good." If you find yourself violently disagreeing with something and want to educate the world, please contact us about writing a guest post of your own providing the opposite side of the issue.